


December 9

by VR_Trakowski



Series: Advent 2015 [9]
Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Advent Calendar, F/M, Ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-05-05 22:50:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5393198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VR_Trakowski/pseuds/VR_Trakowski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What is faith to a Splice?</p>
            </blockquote>





	December 9

**Author's Note:**

> Explanation [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5333558).

The little apartment was never quite silent, there was always the rumble and hiss of traffic and city noises even in the middle of the night, but Caine didn’t mind.  He was used to sound, be it fellow soldiers breathing or the vibration of a starship’s engine; it was silence that unnerved him.  

And under those sounds was one precious heartbeat, slow and steady.  Caine kept a small part of his attention on it, even as he settled in front of the information terminal in what Jupiter called the _living room_.  She was sound asleep and likely to stay so until morning, but Caine didn’t require as much rest, and he often used these quiet hours for study, absorbing Entitled household protocols or technical manuals or the latest in cybernetic advances, whatever came first to hand or mind.  

Tonight, though, he turned his attention to the dual winter holidays of Jupiter’s culture.  She’d given him the basics, but he was curious.  

Fortunately, Jupiter had had his translation implant upgraded, and now Caine could read Earth’s major languages without difficulty.  Finding information on the planet’s electronic net wasn’t hard either--he was, after all, a hunter, whether the prey was flesh or data.  A few hours’ work let him form a tolerable outline of several thousand years of history and faith.  

Caine found it more than a little alien.  Faith was a fact of life on countless planets; there were even places where Entitled were worshiped.  But Splices were raised without the metaphysical.  Faith was not for them.  

However, he was more interested in the strictly cultural aspects.  Christmas, at least, had taken on a secular mythos of its own, with some interesting dichotomies.  Generosity and charity versus blatant commercialism, an emphasis on family and an increase in stress, the desire for peace on a world that seemed desperately committed to conflict.  

There was something underlying it all, a shape he could sense but not quite make out, and Caine paged through endless information, trying to isolate it--  

The heartbeat quickened, and a moment later he heard Jupiter stir.  Her mumble of “Caine?” was too quiet for any normal human to hear, but it drew him back to her as if she’d shouted.  

“Nightmare?” he asked softly as he pulled her into his arms.  

“Nnn.”  Jupiter tucked her head against his chest.  “Jus’ missed you.”  

The surge of silent delight was familiar now, but no less powerful.  Caine curled himself around her, listening to her sink back into sleep, and just luxuriated in the sensation.  He would stay until morning.  

Research could wait.  


End file.
